Battle of Rhodes
Battle of Rhodes is a short story included as part of TSFIA. Summary September 18th, 1993. On this day, central command HQ of the 2nd Mediterranean Army group at Candia base, on the Island of Crete, is faced with an overwhelming emergency. Recently having been focused entirely on dealing with the various small to medium sized BETA incursions into Greece, the sudden arrival of a large scale BETA horde emerging from the region of Turkey and Anatolia has caught the massively spread out Human defenders in the region off guard. And now, the alien menace has arrived at Rhodes Island. Having received the Code 991 warning, and they requested for reinforcements from the Turkish 66th TSF battalion. Command HQ issued an order to the 66th to hold the island at all costs and directed several QRF (Quick Reaction Force) elements in Greece to aid the Rhodes island defense. “Turquoise 7 to Turquoise 1, we can’t hold, there are too many!” “Fuck! Where are the Reinforcements?” because the BETA overwhelmed the defensive line the reaforcements was wiped out.While the navy gave covering fire,the tanks fell back while shooting at destroyers class.The TSF battalion reinforce the tank line but still retreated 37 minutes since contact with the BETA, the 66th TSF “Turquoise” battalion had been engaging the endless numbers of the horde on the beaches of Rhode Island. The majority of the naval fire support they were promised had been delayed at Greece, and thus had not yet arrived. As a result, the battalion had been engaging the BETA almost completely without support. And no matter how one looked at it, a battalion sized TSF unit of F-4 Phantoms, without effective artillery support, successfully defending against a divisional sized BETA horde that was attempting to charge the beachhead, seemed to be a physical impossibility. The 66th fell back from the overrunned beachhead, retreating to the island's center. Having been pummeled by human firepower and the relentless BETA advance, the beautiful and historical streets and remnant buildings of ancient Greece are no more. The bodies of the dead are trampled and crushed, the air smelled of cordite and blood, the very city itself is now an ocean of blood and gore. Within the cockpit of the CO of the 66th, the tactical overlay map was covered in red, the amount of friendly blue blips are difficult pick out in the sea of red, and their numbers were dwindling by the minute. Faced with a hopeless situation, and accepting that they are to die today, the survivors of the 66th prepared their last stand. Suddenly, a mass of blue friendly blips appeared on the edge of his tactical display. “Turquoise 1, this Cobra 1! ETA 180 seconds. Do what you can to hold till then!” “Turquoise 1 here. That took you long enough! Were you guys fucking napping!? And are there more of you guys?” Despite his words the tone of relief was evident in his voice. “Don’t worry, the other battalion will be here soon. We got here in a hurry, after all.” Cobra 1 of the Turkish 94th TSF battalion was not lying. For the defense of Rhodes island, HQ scrambled an entire TSF Wing worth of TSFs, with several other units here and there being called in to support as well. The reason the 94th got here faster was because they were equipped with newer 2nd generation TSF. Flying at an altitude of merely 10 meters, the shock wave left behind by the members of the 94th cut giant waves of displaced ocean water behind them. At their speed, any mistake of piloting could cause a catastrophic crash into the Aegean sea. All of this was to minimize the chance of being engaged by the BETA laser classes at long range. Maintaining perfect formation, the entire battalion stayed their altitude but increased their speed even more, a move considered dangerous according to doctrine and not allowed by SOP (Standard Operating Procedure), but in life or death situations, much of the 'rulebook' generally gets tossed out the window. “Formation Arrow-head 3. We will assault through the BETA's flank, and push directly towards the 66th. 1st squadron will take the center, 2nd and 3rd will provide cover fire from the sides.” “Understood!!” Arriving over the island itself, adjusting their jump units to accommodate the urban terrain, the battalion flew in NOE mode over the city streets. Soon the besieged 66th was within sights of 1st Squadron, 2nd Flight leader, Cobra 5. “2nd Flight! Direct fire support for the friendlies to our front!” Switching to full reverse on their jump units, 1st Squadron landed besides the besieged 66th and deployed their WS-16C assault cannons on full auto, turning the surrounding BETA into chucks of mincemeat in short order. The TSFs of Cobra Battalion were the F-16A Fighting Falcon. To solve the issue of the mounting costs of the F-14 and the F-15, and to still maintain production quotas, the US had adopted the concept of a “High Low Mix” way of approaching unit composition. They Believed that the key to having a balanced and effective combat force was to have one that was composed of a large number of medium and low tier units, mixed in with smaller numbers of high tier units. Thus in 1986, the US developed a TSF to fill the niche of a cheap but effective multipurpose 2nd generation unit to serve as the ideal replacement for the F-4 Phantoms and F-5 Tiger TSFs, and augment the F-15 series on the frontline. The F-16 itself was met with much favor around the world as well, having been adopted for use in large quantities by Europe, Middle East and Southeast Asia. The Turkish Army itself adopted the F-16 in early 1991. As one of the more prestigious frontline units, the 94th Cobra battalion was among the first battalions in Turkey to transition completely to the F-16A. Cobra 5, while providing continuous support fire with his 36mm, approached a fallen F-4 Phantom that was knocked down by an Grappler class and assessed the damage. “Good, you are still alive; we will hold this area, you guys get out of here.” Another F-4 of the 66th arrived to pick up his wounded buddy, and departed after offering a quick word of thanks and gratitude to Cobra 5. Squeezing his trigger down and holding it there; Cobra 5 returned to dispatching the encroching Grappler classes. After a hard, long fight, the Cobra battalion cleared the immediate area of any BETA presence. Just as the battalion was ready to take a collective breather, the voice of HQ came online. “New BETA group detected, coming from the western beach head. Link up with the rest of the reinforcement and clear them out. Naval fire support should be in range soon.” “Well, well well. Look at who finally decided to show up. And looks like we won’t get to go home just yet. Its going to be a long day….” Cobra 5, First squadron, 2nd Flight leader, Ibrahim Dogulu, could only smile as he shook his head slowly while staring at the growing numbers of red dots on his tactical map display. Category:TSFIA